Real Star Upendra’s UI TV premiere confirmed; OTT same day and time?

UI – Real Star Upendra’s much-awaited return to the director’s chair- opened in theatres in December last year to mixed reviews. While a section loved the actor-filmmaker’s trademark philosophical approach to the narrative, many were less than enthused by the preachy tone and felt that much of what he said was only an extension of his Prajakeeya party’s manifesto. Nevertheless, the film had a good opening at the box office when it released, but lost steam soon enough, when Kiccha Sudeep’s Max came along 5 days later.

Also read: UI movie review: Upendra goes into preacher mode overdrive in film that falls short on entertainment 

In February, Zee Kannada, which had the satellite rights of UI announced that the TV premiere would happen shortly, but then there was no word from the platform. Instead, Max, which had also been picked by the network, got a similar promo and then dropped with a simultaneous TV premiere and OTT outing on Zee Kannada on February 15. There has been radio silence about UI since then, which prompted speculation that the film’s OTT rights remained unsold and that Zee Kannada, perhaps, only holds the satellite rights.

UI gets an Ugadi TV premiere

It was speculated that UI would be on OTT for Ugadi, but there was no confirmation about this from the makers or any platform. A little while ago, producer KP Sreekanth shared that UI would get its TV outing on the festive occasion, but yet again, there was no information on the OTT outing. On March 30, at 4.30 pm is when UI will be telecast for television audiences. Could it be that the film will drop on Zee5 at the exact same date and time, like Max, and, more recently, Venkatesh’s hit Telugu film, Sankrantiki Vastunam ?

Also read: Plan to watch UI? Know Upendra the director with these films first 

Unlike earlier, when the OTT release would always precede the television premiere, and films ended up being widely pirated, Zee Network has been experimenting with the new formula of a simultaneous TV and OTT outing, ensuring that anyone interested in the film would tune in on one device or the other. Sources suggest that the confirmation about the OTT outing of UI will also come shortly.

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